At the same time, Interior is facing a legal challenge from the Center for Biological Diversity, which questions whether Salazar adequately evaluated the environmental risks involved in deepwater drilling when he lifted the moratorium last week.

However, while the drilling moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico will present the deepwater industry with a challenging period, in the longer term deepwater production will remain an important source of future global oil supply. "

Under the extensive drilling campaign in Indonesian deepwater, Niko is entitled to drill numerous wells across its acquired 2266 square kilometers of 3D seismic data and 1050 kilometers of 2D seismic data at Kofiau.